And yet in the People's Republic, Android is proving to be the people's phone. Analysys International reports that Android has risen from 33.6 percent market share (2010) to 65 percent (2011).

That's more than 10 times the 2011 market share of iOS -- 5.7 percent, up from 4.1 percent in 2010.

Apple sees China as a key growth market, largely because of the market's massive size. China has 988 million total cell phone subscribers -- the most of any nation in the world. Many of those subscribers have switched to smartphones.

The iPhone is a powerful status symbol in China, but is nowhere near Android in sales.
[Image Source: MIC Gadget]

The fruity gadgetmaker's biggest problem in the Asian market is also its greatest appeal -- its price. IPhone sales in China tend to be primarily concentrated in the nation's richest cities like the capital city of Beijing or Shanghai, the largest city in the world.

Android handsets, on the other hand are cheap, thanks in part to domestic production from Chinese handset-makers like Huawei and ZTE Corp. (SHE:000063). The platform's gains came largely at the expense of Finnish phonemaker Nokia Oyj. (HEL:NOK1V) which is still relying on the defunct Symbian smartphone operating system as it makes the transition to Windows Phone. Once a leader in the Chinese market Nokia's market share was more than halved, settling at 18.7 percent for the year.

Android's choice of devices and configurations is its biggest asset and liability, the same as iOS's closed model is its largest liability.

With Android, the main system settings and basic operation such as the lock screen will differ from one manufacturer to another. App compatibility across devices is also a challenge, but you can choose between all types of device sizes, hardware functionality and customizations.

With iOS, the interface is the same across device models and app compatibility is better, but your choice of devices is limited to a couple of phones and tablets that do not vary much in their size and configuration.